The present invention relates to closure devices for containers and more particularly to container closure devices for resealing an opened container and even more particularly to such a device for resealing a previously opened carbonated beverage, food, paint or other suitable container.
A great deal of effort has been expended to design and produce a satisfactory closure for resealing, for example, partially consumed soft drink and beer containers. Such efforts have resulted in the production of a large number of variations of such devices, but none has reached very large market penetration.
The shortcomings of the prior art devices are numerous and varied. Many such prior art devices are large, i.e. bulky, and unwieldy, i.e. hard to operate, others because of their design cannot be easily cleaned after use, and yet others such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,656 require that a portion of the resealing device actually be inserted into the container to obtain satisfactory sealing, a generally unacceptable requirement since it poses the significant risk of contaminating the container contents through the introduction of foreign matter.
Thus, the need for a satisfactory device capable of resealing a previously opened container such as a soft drink can remains, as does the demand for such a product. Additionally, such a device that could be manufactured in varying sizes for purposes of sealing other reusable containers such as paint cans and the like would be similarly useful and desirable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container resealing device suitable for use on a variety of reusable containers such as beverage cans that is easy to use, compact and provides for the ability to be cleaned after one or more uses.
According to the present invention, there is provided a container resealing device comprising a generally semicircular engagement portion joined to but separated from a circular base by a preferably removable spacer to provide a gap capable of engaging the peripheral lip of a container, a vertically movable circular cap including a pliant sealing surface on a first side thereof located between the circular base and the engagement portion and a cam mechanism engaging a second surface of the circular cap so as to permit driving the circular cap against the top of a container with which the gap has been engaged along the peripheral container lip.
According to various preferred embodiments of the present invention, the cam mechanism can incorporate a means for providing a variety of cam settings to adapt to a variety of container configurations, the spacer is a round, axially compressible and expandable spring to permit easy removal thereof for disassembly of the device of the present invention for cleaning and the pliant sealing surface may cover the entire surface of the circular cap or merely comprise a portion thereof adequate to provide a fluid tight seal against a portion of a resealed container.